Poker Chips and Poison by Rodney Strong

Author:Rodney Strong [Strong, Rodney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LoreQuinn Publishing
Published: 2019-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

GAVIN BLINKED AND SEEMED to see her for the first time.

‘Hello, Alice. Sorry, I was somewhere else for a moment,’ he said and his face relaxed into a smile.

‘That’s quite a stern face you’ve got there,’ Alice replied.

He laughed, ‘I was in the military, Alice. A good death stare was mandatory if you wanted to climb the ranks.’

‘Yes, I imagine it came in handy. With that skill, I’m surprised you’re not better at poker.’

‘So am I,’ Gavin admitted with a shrug. ‘But it was never my thing.’

Alice stepped further into the room. All the poker chips had been cleared away and a stack of clean plates and cutlery sat on the side table ready to set the tables for the next meal.

‘Are you waiting for dinner?’ she asked.

He glanced at his watch. ‘No, I’m going over the events of the poker tournament again. I thought it would be easier to do if I was in the room.’

‘Why?’ Alice came closer.

He gave her another shrug. ‘Call it professional habit. During my career I was responsible for sending a lot of men into potential war zones, and every single one of them that didn’t come home, I made damn sure I knew why. I realise that this place is just a halfway house while we wait to head off into the great beyond, but when someone dies unexpectedly I get an itch in the back of my brain that can only be scratched when I have answers.’

‘People of your age die all the time,’ Alice said.

‘Your age? I hate to tell you this Alice, but we’re in the same category.’

She flapped her hand dismissively. ‘I passed your age a long time ago and I intend to attend all your funerals.’

‘Morbid.’

‘But not sinister. Not intentionally anyway.’ She grinned at him. ‘Do you suspect foul play?’

‘Foul play? I may have been alive at the same time as Agatha Christie but the words foul play have never crossed my lips. Of course I don’t believe anything untoward happened, I just like to know things, to have things resolved. In this case I’d like to know if poor Betty was suffering from something undiagnosed, or if it was a case of food poisoning or something else that might require us to be on guard.’

Alice nodded. She also liked to know things, and right now she wanted to know if Gavin was telling the truth. His tell in poker was quite obvious, but in life she had yet to get a sense of him.

‘Have you discovered anything?’ she asked.

‘Everything had been cleared away by the time I got here, so there’s not much to see.’

She thought he seemed put out, but then he was probably used to people not doing things without his permission.

‘Do you remember who was sitting at the chair Betty was beside when she collapsed?’ Alice asked.

‘What? No, can’t say I do, not exactly. Everyone was paying attention to your table towards the end and no one was sitting down. I think Gordon was at that table when the tournament was going but can’t be completely sure.

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